Amy chats to Harriet White the Co-Founder of BossyB*tchProductions who are taking their show In Memoriam to Edinburgh this year!
Hey Harriet, here’s your chance to give an elevator pitch, can you give us a brief synopsis?
In Memoriam is a real-time, real-life comedy, set the hour before Graham Woodman’s funeral, a Grandad from nowhere. But one coffin, many enraged family members and a mystery guest promise to make the Woodman family, THE family that nobody will ever forget.
What inspired the show?
When writing the show Fiona and Lucy were very inspired by dry, dark and witty British humour. Black Adder, Inside No.9 and Fleabag were some of their inspirations to name a few, as well as their own experiences of awkward English family reunions. Everyone will recognise one of the Woodmans in their life; the funniest things happen in everyday life which is why we wanted to bring a slightly unusual real-life situation to the Edinburgh Fringe stage. Family life is always a bit crazy!
How important is the Fringe for new work? And how does it feel to be at the Fringe this year?
The Fringe provides such an exciting opportunity for new writing, especially providing a platform for comedy performances! It’s an opportunity to see how your work is received and for research and development of the script. This Fringe is particularly exciting yet scary for us as it’s our first Fringe as a new theatre company, having conceived the idea for In Memoriam whilst at last year’s Fringe and we are now so happy to be able to debut our first professional piece of original writing here!
What are the main themes within the production, and what can audiences expect?
The main themes of In Memoriam are family, love and grief. Sounds hilarious I know! Grief is a rather obvious theme considering the play is set before a funeral, however, we also wanted to explore how love between a family, chosen or not, perseveres throughout it all. The Woodmans are far from a perfect family and have their fair share of disasters before this funeral, however, love remains present. As well as this, you can expect plenty of family chaos, dark humour, grief, confrontation, family drama, laughter and tears!
Finally, with so many shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, why should people book a ticket to this show?
Firstly, we can guarantee we are one of (hopefully) very few shows that will have a coffin on stage – you won’t want to miss that – it is after all DEAD funny! Apart from that, it is WEIRD, WONDERFUL and WACKY and we are only there for one week so book your tickets before Edinburgh’s most DEAD serious comedy sells out!
In Memoriam is on at theSpace @ Symposium Hall from 21st – 26th August at 1.15pm – info here!
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